Registration of 'Royal' chickpea

Authors: Vandemark, George; NELSON, HOWARD - Farmer; Chen, Weidong; MCPHEE, KEVIN - Montana State University; MUEHLBAUER, FRED - Washington State University

Submitted to: Journal of Plant Registrations
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/29/2018
Publication Date: 3/8/2019
Citation: Vandemark, G.J., Nelson, H., Chen, W., Mcphee, K., Muehlbauer, F. 2019. Registration of 'Royal' chickpea. Journal of Plant Registrations. 13:123-127. https://doi.org/10.3198/jpr2018.09.0059crc.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3198/jpr2018.09.0059crc

Interpretive Summary: Chickpea was among the first crops to be domesticated by humans in the Near East thousands of years ago. Chickpeas have been historically grown in rotations with wheat, which confers several benefits to wheat production including disruption of wheat diseases, better options for weed control, and availability of residual nitrogen fertilizer produced by biological nitrogen fixation in chickpea roots. In the U.S., chickpeas are primarily grown in the Pacific Northwest (WA and ID) and Northern Plains (MT and ND). Chickpeas are usually grown in regions receiving between 18-28 inches precipitation annually, and are almost never grown in areas receiving less than 16 inches annual precipitation. The value of a chickpea crop is influenced by both yield and seed size. Larger seeds are more desirable in the whole seed markets and have a higher value than smaller seeds, which are typically processed into hummus. Over a recent five year period (2013-2017), large chickpeas received an average price of $0.32/lb, which is 28% higher than the average of $0.25/lb received for small chickpeas. This manuscript describes the development of ‘Royal’ chickpea, which was released by the USDA-ARS based on its performance compared to the popular chickpea cultivar ‘Sierra’. Royal performed exceptionally in yield trials conducted in areas receiving between 12-16 inches of annual precipitation, where it produced larger seed and 20% higher yields than Sierra. Royal is a promising alternative to Sierra as a high-yielding large-seeded chickpea cultivar, especially in regions receiving less than 16 inches annual precipitation.

Technical Abstract: Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivar ‘Royal’, was released by the USDA-ARS based on both high yield and large seed size compared to the popular commercial chickpea cultivars ‘Sierra’ and ‘Nash’. Royal has simple leaf structure and produces white flowers. Royal is an F5 derived line from the cross HB-19/CA9783142 and was evaluated by the USDA-ARS across 18 location-years in Washington and Idaho receiving approximately 450-750 mm annual precipitation. Royal had an average yield of 1436 kg ha-1 across all yield trials, 5.4% less than Nash (1514 kg ha-1) and 7.3% greater than Sierra (1338 kg ha-1). Royal reached 50% flowering in approximately 60 d and harvest maturity in 106 d after planting, which was not different than Nash or Sierra. Royal, similar to Sierra, has moderate resistance to Ascochyta blight. Royal was also tested by HighLine Grain Growers across 12 location-years in Washington receiving approximately 300-350 mm annual precipitation. In these trials Royal had an average yield of 1366 kg ha-1, 6.7% greater than Nash (1280 kg ha-1) and 23.7% greater than Sierra (1104 kg ha-1). In trials conducted by USDA-ARS hundred seed weight (HSW) of Royal was 55.8 g, which was less than Nash and greater than Sierra. In trials conducted by HighLine Grain Growers HSW of Royal was 52.0 g, which was not different than Nash and greater than Sierra. Royal produced a greater percentage of “A” seeds (> 8.7 mm) than Sierra in trials conducted by both the USDA-ARS and HighLine Grain Growers. Royal is a promising alternative to Sierra as a high-yielding large-seeded chickpea cultivar, especially in regions receiving less than 450 mm annual precipitation.